Use shutters to make faux windows

Both of the ideas are excellent! Thank you

Go with the trellis idea. Faux anything is just "faux"

I do appreciate all ideas. I am checking into trellis sizes for a quick fix. This is a walkway leading to a lake front back yard so I am also going to check out putting in a nice pergola walkway for next season. Thanks again!

If it's in a path then perhaps a tall pergola with a bench underneath.
It look like the sun and shade are both great there... Climbing roses up the pergola sides would be a lovely and fragrant place to relax and smell the roses.

Would you still consider adding windows in the second story? Perhaps in time you can reconfigure the kitchen and add windows on the lower level as well.

"Smelling the roses " is a lovely thought! Thank you.

We did consider adding windows upstairs however the house next door is also a 2 Story (with windows upstairs) and is only about 15 feet away. I do think adding windows upstairs would look nice from the outside but I worry that we would be trading away some privacy.
This is the first time I have asked for help with ideas on this site. I am so grateful to you all for your great suggestions!

well, thinking... upstairs windows with plantation shutters might be nice, they can be tilted just a crack for some airflow, although your neighbors would probably be dismayed when the saws come out. main thing is to not line them up with the neighbors'.

but i wouldnt add windows unless you really want them for more than exterior aesthetics. they are costly, and now that we know there is another house 15 feet away it puts this 'blank wall' in a different perspective. dress up the first floor, you can even go quite high with a trellis, and call it a day.

I love that people are so willing to help out with great advise!

A trellis with an espaliered tree

Richard,
I wasn't sure what a espaliered tree was so I googled it and saw an amazing flowering tree that would look fabulous trellised on my walkway! Thank you!!

A pergola over the walkway would look great & solve the bare wall issue.

Dar Eckert, my husband built a pergola along a a side-of-house walkway on the high, plain wall of our house...flowering vines on the pergola & a lovely rock garden on the slope below. Sounds like a good solution for this poster.